MARINES SAVE AIR SHOW FROM OBAMA GAMBIT

The commanding officer of the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar is to be commended for his efforts to save the Miramar Air Show from becoming a complete victim of President Obama’s “sequester theater.”

Col. John Farnam says the October show will go on, though it will be a day shorter and no active-duty military aircraft will participate. Instead, there will be civilian flying performances and vintage military aircraft, including the Patriots jet team, which flew six small jets in precision formations at the 2012 air show.

The Miramar show symbolizes the important role the military has played in San Diego history — and continues to play in the region’s culture. Many air shows elsewhere have been canceled completely in the wake of the cuts in spending required by the March 1 budget sequestration.

But it’s a shame this year’s show will be a shadow of its former self, thanks to the Obama administration’s attempts to make these cuts as painful as possible instead of working with Congress to reduce expenses in a sensible way.

The ultimate losers are the hundreds of thousands of San Diegans who won’t get to see an array of military aircraft dance in the skies over Miramar — all because of budgetary turbulence caused by presidential petulance.